Prosecutors allege woman’s killing at Ivy City Hotel was random

When police forced their way into room 116 of the Ivy City Hotel on New York Avenue on March 31, they found Bautista, lying on the floor of the hotel room, face down. Authorities said Sydnor was sitting on the bed, smoking a cigarette with a broken, bloodied knife nearby.

“This was a random attack,” Assistant U.S. attorney Sarah Santiago argued at a hearing in the case Friday in D.C. Superior Court. “Ms. Bautista was stalked, trapped and killed inside a hotel room that she rented.”

Judge Robert Okun ordered Sydnor, 44, to remain in jail until trial. Jesse I. Winograd, Sydnor’s attorney, argued his client did not randomly pick Bautista’s hotel room and that the two were acquainted, but he did not elaborate and refused to comment further. Sydnor, dressed in an orange D.C. jail jumpsuit, sat quietly throughout the hearing.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Sydnor killed her by stabbing the victim repeatedly with a knife,” the judge said.

Authorities say Sydnor drove a bicycle to the hotel and went to Bautista’s room; she had just checked in, and her car was parked outside.

The judge said a video showed Sydnor listening outside the room door for about 15 seconds before he entered. There were no signs of forced entry, and authorities believe Bautista, 31, mistakenly left her room door unlocked or unknowingly opened the door, not knowing Sydnor’s intentions.

Less than a minute later, authorities say, Bautista opened the hotel room door and twice screamed for help. She soon disappeared inside as it swung shut.

Santiago said Sydnor had at least eight prior criminal cases, including some that involved women victims. Court records show he had been released from jail after pleading guilty to attempted robbery in D.C. while awaiting trial on a separate larceny charge in Prince George’s County, and had missed court dates in both places.

“He has a history of targeting women,” the prosecutor said. “He is a danger to the community, specifically women.”

Winograd argued that Sydnor, who was found by police with a cut to his right hand and finger, was defending himself against Bautista, and that she was the initial aggressor inside the hotel room. He played a video that showed his client riding up to the hotel room on his rented bicycle and parking outside the room door, increasing the volume to try to demonstrate there were no audible signs of screaming when Sydnor first entered.

“She let him into that room and for whatever reason, she then stabbed him first,” Winograd said.

Santiago noted the Sydnor, at 6′4, would have towered over Bautista, who was barely 5′ tall.

After the hearing, Bautista’s sister, who was in the courtroom, declined to comment. Ricci Tan, a friend of Bautista’s mother, said Bautista, a James Madison University graduate, did not know Sydnor. She said she was told that Bautista drove to D.C. from her home in Harrisonburg, Va., to attend a concert.

“We are just so relieved that he was not released back into the community and has to stay in jail,” Tan said.